Sundown
by Nocturnal Lure
Summary: For six years the shadow of the Volturi was cast over Renesmee's youth. Now while Renesmee is reaching adulthood ALice senses movement from the Italian coven... the final confrontation it seems is drawing near.
1. Chapter 1

Preface

I understood my mother so much better now. Several times she too had raced to her death, aiming to sacrifice herself to save her loved ones.

My eyes on the road, the blackness of the night had little impact on my half vampiric vision. I could see a truck stop up ahead, half conscious I shifted gears on my motorcycle. The hunger had become so much stronger since I buried my human side. Heavy emotions made it even more difficult to cling to that half of myself while mental pictures echoed through my head. It would be so much less painful to let my humanity go. Images burned me…

Billy black broken on the floor, Jacobs accusing eyes. Though the bond, the sacred imprint, had only been temporarily broken, an illusion for Jacobs mind, I wondered if a permanent solution would be better. With the near future in mind that solution might be close enough now.

The truck stop came closer, I could almost taste them, warm blood racing through their veins. Such a strong sensation now, I would have to show this memory to mom when I got back, if I got back. At the final moment, meters from the stop, I made a hard turn, several eyes, human from the truck stop, but others as well, watched as I went 180 degrees with screeching tires.

Only minutes later I arrived at the hotel, I would follow through on the plan, I would follow in mothers footsteps. I walked up to the counter, the cliché Italian hotel manager dropped his jaw as I walked in, I must have been less human now then I ever was. I took a deep breath and stated:

"Vanessa Wolfe, a mister Caius should be waiting for me"

1 Growing pains

I had a great childhood, even though it had been barely 6 years, I was reaching adulthood now and would remain a young adult for the rest of my existence. I doubt any other girl would ever have a more strange or a more loving family then I had. There was my human family, Charlie and Sue close by and Renee and Phill long distance. Though I had only seen my human grandmother once, I could feel her love so well in our email conversations, it was however becomming very hard to hide my maturity now and the time for Renesmee to disappear from the human world was drawing painfully close. Charlie was in a state of semi-knowing which meant that even though he ignored any details, he accepted a lot of the strangeness, I would be able to keep in contact with him for some time to come.

There was also my wolf family in the reservation, two packs of fierce warriors, seventeen _werewolves_, though the term werewolf was not an accurate description, as loyal to me as they are to their respective Alpha's, my beloved Jacob one of the two alpha's. Jacob, my beloved Jacob, the term family didn't work there anymore, he was a part of myself, he had been a second father, big brother and was now my lover. Though we knew we were bonded by the magic of the imprint, I doubt if it would have been any different without that sacred magic. Perhaps mom would have had more trouble with it, then again, maybe not… people were rarely able to anticipate her thoughts, even dad with all his insight was often surprised by mom.

"One of the reasons I love her" he always says with a smile playing around his lips.

Then there was my extended "family" ranging from Tanya's coven to my beloved sisters in the Amazon and many in between. A large group of beautiful predators once scattered around the globe, now seemed to have a common place to visit every now and then, a home base, my home. Ever since the first real confrontation with those Italian dictators, the vampire race had become much more close, seeking each other out with regular intervals. The Volturi had created exactly that which they were trying to prevent from being formed, an alliance amongst the vampires. This alliance I now counted as my family. I was especially fond of "uncle" Garret, a rebel, so much like me. Though he already left Tanya's coven ayear after joining, being a nomad to the bone, he was still a _vegetarian_, he claimed "if only to piss them off", "them" being the Volturi.

And then there were the Cullens, my direct family, a constant warm embrace and an endless source of love and affection. Grandfather Carlisle, though I still have to keep reminding myself not to use that term in public, we look like siblings sooner then granddaughter and grandfather. He loves me deeply, at times I need to be reminded that calling me "fascinating" or "Hmmm, intriguing" are not the best terms to show that affection. He always apologizes at length when I do. Emmet and Jasper, to me now brothers rather then uncles, always teasing me, always making bets at my expense but always ready to protect me or help me as well. They have been my teachers in so many things ranging from history, who could rival Jaspers eye witness accounts, to combat. The uneasy relation with the dictatorship of the Volturi demanded that every one of us was ready for the worst all the time. The slightest frown in Alice's forehead had all of us jump up and at the ready within a second, which made day to day conversation difficult because my current taste, or _distaste_ in Alice's opinion, for black leather had her frowning a lot lately. Esme and Rosalie were nothing short of an extra set of mothers, though off course they tried to take a step back when Mom was near, I really never had a shortage of parental control. And then there was Alice.

Alice was in all ways but the traditional one, the love of my life, she was my best friend, my role model and my sister, only Jacob had a better claim on my attention. Our shopping sprees could leave entire towns out of stock for weeks and our parties, for which we needed little more excuse then "it's the sixteenth Thursday of the year" or "it's the second day without rain in august" were notorious even amongst my "extended family" members who were there when Europe was liberated at the end of WW2 or when the wall in Germany fell. This off course to no small amount of frustration of my mother, which automatically had my father chuckling behind her back every time she objected after my announcing another party. He had learned to put up his serious face in no time, fast even for a vampire in case mother looked him in the face. There appeared to be a "don't encourage them" sort of deal between mom and dad. From the rare occasions where mom let dad in her head for some time, the effort often causing her a serious headache, we now learned that she actually sort of enjoyed the gatherings Alice and I organized. At least seeing so many of our alliance friends and seeing me and Alice so happy during preperations was worth "enduring it" she claimed.

Six years went by, nearly without incident, but the Volturi shadow hung over us all the time. Three times in six years Alice claimed there was movement on the Italian side, two times it was a false alarm. "They must have thought better of it and changed their minds" Alice claimed both times. The third time was yesterday. Alice was convinced that this was "the real thing". Even though the visions were still a blur, she had called the family together in the Cullen living room.

The blurriness of the vision told us that we still had plenty of time. It was the fact that they _would_ move that was certain now, though there already had been little doubt before yesterday. The _when_ and _how_ where still undecided. The decision to do something though was very final though, according to Alice.

Everybody reacted differently. I looked at every single one of them, one at a time.

Emmet, standing in a corner, arms crossed, dark enthusiasm in his face, hoping to finish what was started six years ago.

Jasper worried, sensing the majority of the emotions in the room, he was looking at Esme.

Carlisle just sighed almost relieved that the moment he dreaded was finally getting in sight.

Rosalie actually seemed to look forward to a change of pace after six relatively "quiet" years, though her worry for me was undeniable.

Esme just stood still, not ready to give in to the reality of it. Of all the members of my "supernatural" family she was the one that had embraced the peace of those last years the most, she was far from ready to give that up. She shifted her gaze to me and nearly broke.

My father looked at all of us one at a time, knowing exactly what everyone was thinking. He was hurting, obviously feeling inadequate at comforting his family.

And my mother, seemingly relaxed, her feelings becoming an increasingly bigger enigma ever since she joined the Cullen's as a "full" member of the family. Though mom always tried to open herself up as much as possible, as a rule she was shut and becoming harder to read every day. Her face never betraying a single emotion she didn't want others to see. Her control, supernatural or not was absolute. Much to Emmet's dismay, who often claimed missing making her blush.

Alice then looked at me, the same time I was searching her face, our eyes met, obviously we were making the same assessment both ending on the other. We both sighed and then she whispered "Jacob". My beloved's name formed in my head the same time it formed on the pixie woman's lips.

"I have to get Jacob" I said, dad nodded, and mom touched my arm and I looked me in the eye a sense of pleading in her face.

"Hurry" she said.

"Can I come? " Alice asked, her voice sweet as honey.

"Sure babe" I said "get your helmet"

I walked to the garage grabbing my favorite jacket along the way, Alice letting out a groan of frustration as she looked at my recently acquired black leather rebel jacket. I looked at myself as I passed a mirror. I looked like I wouldn't stand out at a rock or goth festival, well not much. The black high heeled boots, the tight black jeans, a short black shirt with a winged vampire skull on it and a neckline showing enough cleavage to make a vampire blush. I wanted my navel pierced as well, mom would go completely berserk, but nothing so mundane as a needle could pierce my skin. I knew I was stunning, I knew I was pushing it, but I was the most _normal_ looking in a household of perfect beauties, so I tried to compensate. Next to that I also discovered that my "vamped up" image was a great disguise. I didn't look out of place because I was already drawing attention, people probably gathered the somewhat lighter skin was deliberate. The overall unnatural appearance seeming more like an act then anything else. And off course my "look" really suited my somewhat rebellious nature. Though Alice very vocally disagreed with me I thought I actually was quite subtle about it. Going for the "Underworld" look rather then "Elvira mistress of the dark" as Alice called me sometimes.

I got up on the black motorcycle and Alice jumped on behind me. Her unnatural balance not requiring her to hold on to me, she was checking her nails as I made a wheelie and pulled up shooting out into the night heading for the reservation, trying hard not to hum Meatloaf's "bat out of hell…."

We arrived in next to no time, things had changed little in those last six years except for the rules of the "truce" as it was still called, though it was more like a brotherhood. The relationship with the wolves was even closer then our vampire alliance and even though there was still resistance to non-vegetarian vampires, the Cullens, Tanya's coven and Garret where all welcomed in La Push as family.

Jacob was visiting his father this evening and I saw the warm light radiating from Billy's home ahead when I drove up. I could hear Sam's pack in the woods around us, something was wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

2: Revelations

Jacob was standing in the doorway, he looked uneasy as his eyes pierced the dark looking everywhere but at me.

"My love" I said, my voice making him smile briefly.

"Nes" Finally he looked at me, his eyes were red, had he been crying?

"What's wrong sweetie?" I whispered, he was trembling as he came closer, I got of the bike, Alice was already standing behind me as she grabbed my hand. Then I smelled it… blood. His mouth formed the letters as I said the name…

"Billy"

I ran inside, Alice right behind me, there he lay on the floor, broken. My heart skipped a beat, to my relief Billy was still breathing, I could hear a faint heartbeat as well. Right then Jacob came back in again. Kneeling down beside the old man's damaged body.

"I just got back here a few minutes ago, I was following a suspicious scent in the woods, I've been out for less then an hour" Jacob said, his voice lacked the life I could normally hear in it. He looked at me again, pain in his eyes. I knew Jacob well enough to understand that seeing someone he cared about hurt, was what cut him the deepest.

Jacob gently lifted Billy up from the ground and brought him to the couch, the blood on the floor still showed where he had been lying before, like a chalk outline, my mind morbidly suggested. The old Indian was severely wounded, but I trusted Carlisle to pull him through, Alice was already on the phone to get him to come over. Through the blood that clouded my sense of smell I now detected a new scent, much less pleasing then the blood, it was definitely the scent of a vampire, but not one I knew and it had a strange edge to it. Alice just got of the phone, pulling up her nose in wrinkles as she looked at me, she had smelled it too.

"The scent itself almost seems to hide" I said, hardly aware I was speaking out loud.

Carlisle got there in record time and started working on Billy right away. Billy had opened his eyes only once. The look of horror in his eyes scared me, he didn't seem to recognize me. Jabob, Alice and I went outside, since there was nothing we could do but wait, we'd rather do that outside. After some time Carlisle came outside and walked over to us, we were now waiting in front of the house. Carlisle explained that he had sedated Billy pretty heavily.

"I forced his body in a state of rest so he can heal. He is severely wounded, but I think he'll pull through." Carlisle said in a monotonous voice. Then a lighter mood seemed to hit him all of a sudden.

"Nessie, you and Alice have a visitor, head to the house, Jacob and I will watch Billy for now"

I looked at Jacob, he nodded at me, I kissed him on the cheek and whispered. " I'll see you in a few hours" I got on my bike. Alice jumped on the back without the bike even moving and put her arms around me, seconds later we were on the road. I saw dark shapes in the woods around us, the packs, restless for having missed an intruder on their turf.

Not much later we arrived at the house, Alice jumped off of the bike and smiled at me, having seen the visitor in her mind allready, at that moment I smelled someone familiar and as I walked up to the house he came out, the rebel vampire.

"Uncle Garret!" I yelled and flung myself around his neck in a most un-cool manner . For a moment I was just a teen, happy having her favorite uncle visit, though in reality even "teen" was pushing it off course, I was officially yet to have my seventh birthday. In as many ways as I was beyond my years I was in equally as many so much younger. Garret looked at me smiling and then kissed my cheek.

"Hey there sweetie" he said, a mischievous smile on his lips. "I hear we're in trouble?"

"Trouble is somewhat of an understatement" Alice said casually while walking inside the house, Garret and I followed as Alice quickly explained to Garret what she had seen in her recent vision. Mom and dad where waiting for us in the living room together with Jazz, Emm, Rose and Esme, worried looks on their faces.

"How's Billy?" Mom asked, I explained Billy's status and how Carlisle had sedated him. Though the worry never left any of their faces there was a sense of relief hearing Jacob's father would pull through.

Emmet directed his attention towards Garret. Apparently Garret had been waiting for us to arrive before explaining the reason for his visit. The Rebel vampire described how he had come across a vampire scent he didn't recognize. Out of curiosity he followed the trail, after a few miles the scent changed. It became increasingly hard to follow, but it was heading for Forks and so Garret decided to pay the Cullen house a visit. At this point question marks nearly literally appeared above the heads of all those present. Before discussion could follow I explained how Jacob had smelled something strange in the woods and how Alice and myself had picked up the strange "hiding" scent in Billy's house.

"It seems we have a mystery on our hands" Garret said, with just a touch too much excitement in his voice. Emmet nodded in Garrets direction, a subtle hint of a smile around his lips, always eager to meet a challenge head on.

I suggested that the recent Volturi activity Alice reported and the events surrounding the attack on Billy might very well be related. Everybody was in agreement that we could not ignore that fact. The weird hiding scent should be taken into account as well, I indicated that it might very well be some sort of vampiric power, perhaps some sort of stealth that had also flown beneath the radar of Alice's precognitive power.

" If that is the case, we should be extra careful of protecting our loved ones out there" Rosalie said, a bit out of character. Though I knew "aunt Rose" to love me to death, her heart has always been difficult to win over, especially for humans and werewolves. But the addition of Mom and me to the Cullen family had it's impact it seemed. Rosalie had thawed out a bit these last six years.

Rosalie's remark sent increasing shockwaves through the group as all of a sudden it became clear that when Billy could be targeted right under our noses many others were possible victims of an attack as well, not in the least my grandfather Charlie. Mom already ahead of me was little more then a blur leaving the house as fast as possible.

My father of course followed without hesitation. I stayed at the house, to wait for Jacob, but also to discuss something of a plan with the family. Jasper was the first one to speak.

"Perhaps we can organize ourselves and build up some sort of fortification? Pull in as many of our more vulnerable friends as possible"

"Don't forget, not everybody is officially aware of our families extraordinary status" I said.

"I doubt the Volturi need anymore reason to come over, the confrontation is inevitable as is." Alice stated, an apologetic smile on her face as she shrugged of the bleak image of the future she just summoned.

As I thought of the fortification concept Jasper had implied involuntarily a twisted image of the Adams family mansion came to mind, a somber estate monsters kept safely inside.

"We need to assemble the alliance" Garret said, his voice pulling me from my mental picture. The thought of immortals, wolves and vampires all together suddenly felt a bit less vulnerable then just safely inside the Adams residence.

Due to their lack of judgment, figuratively as well as literally the last time the Volturi came to Forks, most of the nomads had taken a stronger position against the Italian dictators, some had even joined the alliance. We would greatly outnumber them. Since the confrontation six years ago some of the Volturi guards have even been eliminated, or perhaps assassinated is a better word. Though it is still somewhat of a mystery as to who would take such an aggressive stand against the Volturi. We were more then thankful to see their numbers decline over the years.

As we discussed our plans on how we would assemble the alliance and go about fortifying our surroundings the phone rang, it was Emmet who picked it up. I could see the look in his eyes changing after a few seconds. We all waited for him to speak when he hung up…

"Charlie is missing" he said.


	3. Chapter 3

3: Desillusion

Charlie missing, Billy attacked, it was painfully obvious that we were being targeted, no one really doubted that there was a distinct possibility the Volturi movement Alice had mentioned was linked to all this. Things were looking grim. Around ten o' clock mom and dad came back.

Ever since Isabella Swan (actually Cullen by then) became a vampire she underwent a change, at least to the outside world. She had always been shielded against mind invading vampiric powers, but ever since she turned she had a total control of her body language as well. No one could read her emotions when she didn't want them to. That evening I saw that ability break. When my mother came back from Charlie's place, she was visibly broken. There is nothing more heartbreaking then to see a beautiful vampire woman sad, except perhaps when that vampire is your mother.

"Bella, we'll find him" my father whispered softly, a look of deep concern, not for Charlie but for my mother on his face. She just looked at him, in her eyes questions and pain. Somehow I was reminded of a statue I once saw on a picture a cemetery monument of an angel weeping over a grave.

Alice walked up to my mother and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and whispered in her ear;

"He will be fine, I did see that"

The corners of my mothers mouth twitched as if she tried to force a smile but didn't succeed.

"Trust Alice" dad said.

My mother sighed and all of a sudden her shield was up again, the graceful immortal she had been for the last six years. My mother asked to see how Billy was found. I thought it might be painful to show everybody how the Indian had been lying on the floor, we decided to wait till later when Jacob and Carlisle arrived. When he entered the house near midnight Carlisle agreed with mother that we should share all the information we had. It was up to me to show everybody what I had seen. Jacob at times called me his "walking tv set" and right then I felt exactly like that. But I tried to pass on the images with as little annoyance I could manage. Being a teen is hard enough without your father knowing your thoughts and the rest of your family knowing you can show them on demand, finish it up with your best friend seeing the outcome of every bad mistake you make and have a love spell woven between you and an Indian werewolf and you are as remote from a normal childhood as you can possibly be. This was me reaching adulthood at seven.

Jacob informed us that Sam was leading his and Jacob's pack in a close guard around Billy's house where many of their friends and family where assembling as well. In my minds eye I could see the small house surrounded by the enormous wolves and then I pictured our own Adams family fort again and managed to smile a bit.

It was deep in the night when I excused myself to take a short nap. Though I was becoming more and more vampiric I could still, and needed to sleep every once in a while. Not like a human eight hours, but short naps of half an hour up to two hours every few days. The last day hed been more taxing then others and so my body requested sleep. I lay down on the couch in the living room, not wanting to leave the current company completely. I was following discussions on how to assemble our friends and how to fortify against the Volturi, when Alice game over to me. I hardly noticed her coming across the room. Her catlike stride was unnoticeable to humans and it had been for me, but my senses were still sharpening and she couldn't sneak up to me anymore, much to Alice's disappointment off course, "yet another game spoiled" she had sighed when I discovered I could now hear her in "stealth mode".

Alice was next to me in seconds, though my vampric mind could have stretched the moment as long as I would like… a useful skill at times. Alice sat down next to me, I opened my eyes to show I was awake, she smiled at me. And stroked my cheek, her hand felt pleasantly cold, I myself might have been cold to human touch, but the vampires skin was still several degrees colder then mine. The difference was lessening though. Again my changing body had messed up one of Alice's games, she used to love hearing me shriek when she put her cold hand on my back.

"Sweetie" She said "Don't worry too much, I know thing look grim, but I have seen solutions, and though people might get hurt" She hesitated when she said it "you have to be strong". She kissed me on the forehead and danced off again. I let myself slide into oblivion, but my mind kept repeating the words, you have to be strong, the emphasis on "you" had not escaped my attention.

When I woke up an hour later plans were being formed. To my disappointment Garret had already left to start assembling friends. Alice said he didn't want to wake me, but Emmet said Alice did not "allow" anybody to wake me, he laughed when he described how the small woman had stood in the way of my enormous werewolf boyfriend who only wanted to give me a quick kiss. I smiled at the mental picture. It was normal for vampires to stay away for months but still perceive it as if one has been away for nothing but a small errant, the importance of a proper goodbye was alien to the nomad vampire. I guess that time shifts differently when you have unlimited amounts of it and have been around for centuries rather then decades, or a few years like me. My sense of time was adjusting, and I was somewhat used to it, but at times it still annoyed me. Still a bit disappointed about Garret having left I got Emmet to bring me up to speed on current plans. The fortification plan still stood and getting our more fragile friends close was also still part of the plan. It was a big problem that many of the vampires who would be coming were not on the same diet as my family. I imagined a wild dog in a small room with large chunks of meat lying around having something of a similar problem. It was Jasper who had come up with the idea of setting up two compounds, one reserved for non-vegetarians.

Carlisle had come up with the idea to stage some sort of disaster, perhaps a viral outbreak, to empty the town of Forks before the Volturi came and innocent people were caught in what might prove to become the greatest supernatural conflict in ages. With Carlisle as one of the most important medical specialists in the region with collaboration of Forks' chief of police, that plan, far fetched as may have sounded might actually be doable. Forks wasn't that big, it could however draw unnecessary attention to our community. So taking the risk at that time was still up for vote.

Dawn was breaking when Jacob announced he was going to check in on Billy, when I asked if he wanted me to join him, he shook his head. He gave me a quick kiss and jumped out of the window having phased before he landed the wolf Jacob ran into the forest. My father stood behind and softly said;

"He has little faith in our plans, he just wants to run off with you"

I nodded and looked into my fathers eyes.

"That might become a problem in time, Alice seems to think so"

Suddenly her words from that night came back "YOU have to be strong". Dad tried to smile apologetically as he said;

"Don't blame Alice, at times like this her power is a burden rather then a gift, she needs you as a friend"

I looked at the pixie woman, she had been staring at me, no doubt understanding the talk my father and I were having and recognizing the understanding that was forming in my mind. I would have to rip my mind in two, ignoring the magical bond of the imprint and prevent Jacob from becoming a loose cannon, a liability in a confrontation were balance and exact execution of our plans were essential. To break an unbreakable bond. I walked over to Alice, I was not going to shoot the bearer of bad news I hugged her and let her hug me like the six year old I essentially was, a scared little girl facing a terrible path. Alice lifted my head and looked me in the eyes as she said;

"You are ruining that hideous make up of yours"

I laughed, though I could almost feel my heart breaking, though the meaning seemed to be seeping out of my life. I pictured Jacob, broken, and I laughed, because I was too scared to do anything but laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

4: the stranger

It had been several hours since my terrifying realisation. I would have to break my bond to Jacob. I wondered if it were at all possible and what, besides the obvious, the price would be. The imprint was something I had accepted in my life, I had never really questioned it. But when the possibility arrived to be forced to break it, I had thought about little else. The fact that the feelings Jacob and I had, were designed suddenly stung me. And that was how the first crack in the unbreakable bond came to be.

Preparations for our stand against the Volturi were in progress as the family was divided into little groups, Jasper, mom and dad were going to search for Charlie. Alice and I were going to check Forks for the strange "hiding scent". Emmet and Carlisle were going to specify the plans for both the fortified compounds as well as the evacuation of Forks. Esme and Rosalie were going to get Rene and Phill to Forks. Esme had claimed she as a fellow grandmother would have the best chance of success to get my human grandmother top come to Forks and get into grips with the new reality we would have to present them. I pictured our meeting, "my, you have grown" would be the understatement of the year I joked to myself.

Alice and I decided to start our search on bike circling the city and spiralling inwards to check all the "normal" roads. After that we would wait for the dark and go "vamp" on foot and focus our search on the less obvious paths. So a little later we were on our bikes, two leather clad beauties, one on a black bike and one on a bright yellow one, rattling the chains of every testosterone driven creature in Forks. It was hard to suppress a smile as we passed a sports car, bought obviously inspired by a midlife crisis, both of us winking at the balding driver who at that moment nearly drove his way too expensive car of the road. The twenty something blonde next to him punched him, obviously very painfully in the shoulder. After half an hour I noticed skid marks on the road leading towards the bushes on the side. I braked and made a one eighty turn, Alice mirrored me nearly exactly on her yellow motorcycle, a scene right out of Charlie's Angels I thought. I sniffed the air and recognized the smell. We placed our bikes at the side of the road and walked into the woods next to the road. Once we were past the bushes we could both almost taste the smell of blood in the air as we walked over to the crashed police car.

Charlie was opening his eyes as I looked through the broken window.

"Grandfather!' I screamed and Charlie groaned as he held his hands to his head as if he was trying to keep it together.

"You don't have to shout" Charlie said, his voice sounded like stone grinding on stone.

"What happened Charlie?" Alice asked, her voice as melodious as always.

"I thought I hit something and I lost control of the car, I must have been unconscious for hours"

Charlie explained how he had reacted to a call. Someone had seen something mysterious an alien or something of the sort. Ever since Charlie's daughter had married Edward Cullen, Fork's chief of police knew not to dismiss such calls as hoaxes or drunk-talk. While driving up to the place of the sighting he had seen someone, or rather something in the middle of the road, to late to steer away he had hit it, after that his memory faded into darkness, to open his eyes again to see us standing next to the car. When we checked the hood of the car we could see two distinct dents just above the grill. Two hands with strangely elongated fingers were clearly visible. I shuddered at the thought of how such hands must look in real life as Alice stomped on the hood to give the crashed car a less "supernatural" look.

Alice had called Carlisle to tell him we had found Charlie and that he was hurt. I was dialling my mothers phone number. As it went I could hear her ring tone coming from the road, apparently she was already here. She and my father were already coming towards us from the road. With catlike grace they crossed the small distance with a speed not visible to human eyes. Charlie was startled when his daughter was suddenly standing beside him with his son-in-law. Out of the car, he was now leaning against the hood, he would have fallen if mum hadn't caught his arm. He smiled at her as he said;

"Thanks, I remember a time when I was the one doing the catching" He smiled at his daughter as his thoughts visibly trailed of.

Carlisle was next to arrive, Emmet was driving him in Alice's Porsche. Alice gave a very clear "don't touch my car again look" at Emmet, who merely smiled at the small woman. Carlisle went to check on Charlie as finally, fast for all human measures, an ambulance arrived. Declaring Charlie clear for transportation Carlisle let the paramedics take the chief of police. A concussion and a few broken ribs the worst of the injuries, Carlisle assured us he would be fine. Mom went with the ambulance to the hospital. The rest of us remained behind to check the car. I touched everybody's forehead to show them how the dents on the hood of the police car had looked before Alice had "erased" them.

"You would be a pretty handy CSI tool" Emmet teased as he got the memory flash from me, as punishment for this tease I showed him a mental picture of Jasper naked, coming from the shower an accidental encounter some years ago, I reserved the memory for a special occasion such as this. The look on Emmet's face was absolutely worth it, I heard my father chuckle behind me as well.

"I have plenty more where that came from" I warned Emmet with the crooked smile I inherited from my father, Emmet still looked like he swallowed a bug.

After a while we discovered several scents in the surrounding area, some of which where familiar. Together we tried to categorize the unfamiliar scents as either human or supernatural. In the end we ended up with a few scents that seemed related. With our experience we had gained on the "hiding scent" we knew this might very well be coming from one and the same source. Though it was not impossible that we were dealing with two or more sources. One of the scent trails did remind me of the scent at Billy's place, Alice seemed to feel the same way. We decided to follow this specific trail. Alice and I were joined by Emmet.

Over the course of several miles the scent seemed to change two times. It had become easier to pick up on the changes now we more or less knew what to "look" for. We traced the scent outside of Forks, it seemed to cling near to the coast line when all of a sudden it clearly trailed to the beach. When we arrived at the beach the scent went into the sea were it was lost to us. Disappointed we headed back to the house. All the way back I could not shake the feeling we were being watched.

When we got to the house Jacob was there, Seth was with him.

"Billy awoke today" Jacob said. He came up to me and kissed me, Alice's words always echoing in the back of my head, I didn't answer his kiss, it seemed he didn't notice. I was completely lost, I had no idea how to act towards the man who held my heart from the day I was born though I knew we would have to break our bond soon.

"I heard you found your Grandfather?" It was Seth who broke my Mesmer.

I explained to Jacob and Seth what had happened and how we followed the scent to the beach outside Forks.

"Whatever it was, it could have easily swam back here while you were out there" Jacob stated, it sounded like an accusation, as if we had failed to fulfil our duties somehow. It irritated me, it shouldn't… it was strange to feel anything but love for Jake, but I did, I felt frustration, and a touch of anger. It was Seth who seemed to pick up on it. He poked his pack leader in the ribs and gave him a meaningful look. In many ways, Seth was closer to Jake then I would ever be, they shared their minds when they were in wolf form. Did Jacob somehow sense what was going through my mind? Was he anticipating a break up? He couldn't, as far as he could know the imprint was unbreakable, however if I could feel it slipping, perhaps he could too?

One by one the entire family came home over the course of a few hours. In no time everybody was preoccupied with the discoveries of the day. I pulled Alice away from the group and asked her to join me. I led her to my parents cottage so we could talk in private, I knew dad was listening in, but I didn't mind.

"The bond is breaking Alice" I said, my voice thick with emotion.

"I know Ness, I've seen it. Be strong, if you stay strong, things will work out, trust me" I hadn't seen Alice this serious in my life, it was scaring me.


End file.
